Yesterday I posted the following on social media: “All we are asking is this: is the UK Government on the side of the USA/Israel/multiple Gulf states, or is it on the side of Iran? It's quite an easy question really.
Sitting on the fence is pretty weak.” The competence of Britain’s Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, as a wartime leader was under the spotlight over the weekend and today, and most commentators across the political spectrum were brutal in their opinions.
One ex-serviceman said: “After 32 years of service to Queen and country, I have never felt such profound anger and deep embarrassment toward my own government. Starmer’s chronic indecision – his shameless pandering to the Muslim vote – has placed every single citizen in the United Kingdom in grave and unnecessary peril … he is the wrong leader at the most dangerous moment in our modern history. He is Chamberlain on steroids – timid, vacillating, and willing to sacrifice national security on the altar of short-term political expediency.”
Another wrote: “The Iranian situation finds me again impressed with this Labour government’s ability to position so that absolutely everyone in Britain is unhappy with the approach they’ve taken. It’s like Starmer has this genius for figuring out how to alienate every last voter.”
The Conservative peer and Shadow Attorney General, Lord Wolfson of Tredegar, took a more reasoned but equally critical approach, stating: “The Prime Minister has refused publicly to support the US and Israel strikes, and also refuses to allow the US to use UK bases, because of international law advice he has reportedly received from Lord Hemer.
“International law ought to provide a mechanism to restrain and, if necessary, end despotic regimes such as that in Iran. If the doctrines of international law prove unable to restrain Iranian terrorism and mass murder, and tie the hands of democracies while forcing them to stand and watch Iranian atrocities, international law will have failed.”
Choosing lawfare over warfare in the face of Islamist terror is an act of treachery - Lt Col Stuart Crawford | Getty Images
On hearing Starmer’s belated efforts to repair his position, Nigel Farage was typically blunt and to the point, saying: “Better late than never. We have a follower, not a leader”.
There’s not much more to add to that lot, really. The Prime Minister has succeeded in neither satisfying his political opponents, the British public, nor indeed his own voter base.
In doing so, he has trashed the international reputation of both himself and that of the country he purports to govern. Starmer’s jacket is clearly now on a shoogly peg, as we might say north of the Border.
His administration has now performed so many changes of heart and policy that it can’t be sure if it’s coming or going, but going seems the likeliest outcome.
Being Prime Minister calls for determined, robust, and sometimes unpopular decision-making. If Sir Keir continues to flip-flop all over the place, he’ll be out on his ear before summer is here. Time to man up and take charge.
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